You might be aware that Windows 7 allow to search for application or file from Start menu itself. Windows 7 also facilitate you to search the internet.

You can enable this feature using group policy editor. Open a Local Group Policy Editor by typing "gpedit.msc" in Run Command from Start Menu. You can also find the Local Group Policy Editor by searching for "Group Policy" in Start Menu.

Once Local Group Policy Editor is opened traverse to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar as shown in below image.

In the right pane, enable he policy "Add Search Internet link to Start Menu".

Now go to Start Menu and type what you want to search on internet in Start Menu, start menu will show you the link to search. Once you click the link it will launch the search item as per your computers default web-browser.

Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 provides the easiest way to change the Logon Screen. You just have to set registry value and copy the image in perticular directory and you are done.

Follow these steps to setup the logon screen you wish to see:

Open Registry Editor, by entering "regedit" in Run command.Once Registry Editor is opened, under Computer node navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Authentication -> LogonUI -> Background . Check if DWORD value having name OEMBackground is present if not then using right click create DWORD value named OEMBackground. Set the data for OEMBackground as 1.Now copy the background image you want to see as Logon screen at location: %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds. Here %windir% is the Windows directory path. If above directory is not present then you will need to create it. The background image you copied should be renamed to "backgroundDefault.jpg" …

If you have observed, Quick Launch toolbar is not supported in Windows 7 and Windows 2008 also. When you right click on the taskbar, under Toolbars menu you wont find the "Quick Launch".

Windows 7 allows you to pin shortcut icons directly into the taskbar, which was the functionality provided by the Quick Launch, hence having quick launch toolbar is redundant. But some people might be interested in Quick Launch toolbar, they can use this technique/workaround provided by Microsoft to enable the Quick Launch toolbar. The Quick Launch toolbar enable by this workaround will not be exactly similar to the earlier Windows version Quick Launch toolbar. This will be a Toolbar as you create a new toolbar using a folder having some shortcuts. Follow below steps to enable the Quick Launch toolbar: Right-click the taskbar, Select Toolbars-> New Toolbar. It will launch the Choose Folder dialog, where you can choose folder for the toolbar. In this dialog box, in the Folder text box, …

Pressing [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Delete] on windows computer, shows you dialog which contains:

Lock ComputerSwitch UserLog OffChange PasswordStart Task ManagerShutdownYou can remove Lock Compute, Log Off, Change Password, Start Task Manager from above options. This is also depend on the Group policy that is applied on your domain, if your computer is part of some domain.

To remove the options you will require to open the Group Policy Editor, that you can open by typing "gpedit.msc" in Run Command from Start menu.

Once Group Policy Editor is opened navigate to "User Configuration" -> "Administrative Templates" -> "Network" -> "System" Now select Ctrl+Alt+Del Options from the list.

On the right site pane right click on any of the given items, select Properties and check the box named 'Enabled'. Press Apply on properties dialog. Log off and log on the computer to reflect the change.

If you are interested in shortcut for functions in Action Center, the Network and Sharing Center, Power Options, Troubleshooting tools, User Accounts and other at one place then you will require Windows God Mode.

The God Mode actually does not offers new features or expose new settings. It only list tasks that we have to otherwise search in Control Panel or Start Menu of Windows 7 or Vista.

The God Mode can be accessed in two ways:

Method 1:

Simply type in shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} in the address bar of windows explorer. It will open up the windows named "All Tasks", where all the shortcuts for functions are listed.

Method 2:

Create a new folder and rename it to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. As soon as you rename the folder the name part after dot will get disappear and also icon of the folder will also get changed like control panel.

In both the methods, the name part after dot or colon, ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C, must be entere…

Windows Firewall was first time introduced in Windows XP SP2. All network connections goes through the firewall. You can set exceptions for programs you want to have network access. Windows Firewall settings are determined by the profile that you are using. Windows XP supports multiple firewall profile, but you can have only one profile active, even when you have multiple network adapters connected.

Firewall in Windows 7:

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 supports Private, Public, or Domain firewall profile that can be active each network adapter that is most appropriate for the type of network to which it is connected.

This means that if you are at a outdoor with a wireless hotspot and connect to your corporate domain network by using a VPN connection, then the Public profile continues to protect the network traffic that does not go through the tunnel, and the Domain profile protects the network traffic that goes through the tunnel.

Windows Taskbar is is horizontal strip at the bottom of your desktop where your open files and programs appear. With Windows 7, the taskbar provides more functionality. Microsoft has rebuilt it and made it better than it was before.

Pressing the Windows key plus a number key (for example, 1, 2, or 3) will launch the application that holds that position on the Taskbar. For example, press the Windows key + 1 to launch the first program icon on the Taskbar, and press the Windows key + 2 to launch the second program icon on the Taskbar.

With Internet Explorer, Microsoft has introduced a new term called "InPrivate Browsing". I will discuss here what is InPrivate Browsing, how to do it, what are the advantages of it.

InPrivate BrowsingInternet Explorer 8 InPrivate Browsing can help protect your privacy, by not storing history, cookies, temporary Internet files, or other data. This helps prevent anyone else who might be using your computer from seeing where you visited and what you looked at on the web.

While you are surfing using InPrivate Browsing, Internet Explorer stores some information—such as cookies and temporary Internet files—so that the webpages you visit will work correctly. However, at the end of your InPrivate Browsing session, this information is discarded.

Now the challenge is, how can you use this script to lock the remote computer. This is pretty simple, using VB Script, copy this lock script to a remote computer, then execute the script on remote computer, this will lock the remote computer.

The Windows Start Menu contains many options. Usually every one does not require these menu items.

You can easily get rid of some of the items from Start Menu, such as Run command, Control Pane, My Documents, Printer and Fax etc...

To remove items from Start Menu

Right click on Taskbar, select "Properties".In Taskbar properties dialog, Select "Start Menu" tab.On Start Menu tab select the customize button. On Window 7 you will get directly start menu customization options, on Windows XP, you will need to select Advanced tab.Here you will see the items displayed in Start Menu, deselect the items that you dont want to see on Start Menu.Press Apply and OK, you are done.

Here I will explain you how can you hide the navigation pane in the explorer of Windows 7. To have a navigation pane on left hand side of window feels some time irritating. You can simply launch the explorer, by double clicking Computer from Start Menu.

Once Computer explorer is launched, click on Organize menu item present at left top corner.

Click Layout ->Navigation Pane to hide the navigation pane, some people call this Favorite menu.

Click Layout-> Details Pane to hide the details pane which display at the bottom of the explorer.

In any Windows Operating System, you will not find rename option for Recycle Bin. Just for fun if you want to rename the Recycle Bin, you can do it by some Registry Trick.

Before going ahead please ensure that you are fully aware of windows registry editor and consequences of modifying the registry incorrectly. To have a backup of the registry follow steps mentioned in the link Backup & Restore Windows Registry. Now if you are ready to rename Recycle Bin then follow these steps in order: 1. Copy following lines in notepad on your computer. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder] "Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20 "CallForAttributes"=dword:00000000 2. Save the file with name as "RegistryChanges.reg". Don't forget that we are using extention .reg for saving. 3. Now double click the file "RegistryChanges.reg". This will add the above mentioned registry keys to your computer regi…